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Hallowed Lantern
Skills ;Trick ;The Rider may hurl the Hallowed Lanter at their foe. When it reaches them, it explodes dealing terrible damage, only to reappear in the Rider's hand ready to be thrown again. ;Treat ;Creates floating magical candy corns taht heals you or your allies when it is collided with. Lore There is a village in the mountains west of Halvalas known as Kinderhook. So deeply nestled is this town in a forested cleft that the sun never reaches the forest floor. The sleepy people of this dark hollow are suspicious and insular, and their connection to the outside world, tenuous. Still, the occasional traveler or trader makes their way to this village to buy crafts of dense heartwood or rare deep forest mushrooms that are sold only there. When this trip is made, those that know better make an offerings to Jengu and Chaos, then still carry extra treats for the mischievous spirit known to the locals as Jack Lantern. Here, as the autumn winds begin to blow, and Kinderhook's hearths burn with long night's fire, this creature can be seen to flit through the darkness between the trees. Some people of Kinderhook revere this forest sprite as a sort of mascot, but most tell a different tale. You see, for some, Jack's Hallowed Lantern is a captivating beacon that leads them to join Jack and his hapless entourage on a merry chase. These wild pursuits wend through the woods and beyond. As the mad cries of those spellbound by Jack's Lantern echo through the night, headless Jack runs at the fore, holding aloft a wildly grinning pumpkin that blazes from within with ghostly light and goads them on with a hollow, booming voice. Some that join Jack's chase vanish forever, but those that survive the night's romp wake dazed and lost, exhausted, clothes and flesh torn. The tales they recount are sometimes chilling, and sometimes fantastic. It is told that Jack Lantern was once a village orphan. He was a prankster and a fool, known to many in the town for trickery and petty tricks. Jack led a pack of feral children, wild and unkempt. These wild boys and girls looked up to Jack for leadership, much to the chagrin of the Kinderhook town council. Jack's one great skill, besides leading the orphan kids, seemed to be in figure-carving. Wood, gourds, even antler and horn submitted to Jack's nimble blade. The boy could carve anything, and his camp in the woods was decorated with carved poles and lanterns. Occasionally he or the beggar children of his pack would trade carved charms for food or blankets, but Jack Lantern and his gang were tolerated, and not celebrated. Secretly, the council wished that they could be rid of them. As they reached their teens, Jack became taken with Trina, the maiden daughter of the local lumberjack. However, though the girl thought him charming, her father Otho never did approve. He wanted his daughter to marry Bram, a studious young lawyer from the city. Bram, too, was in love with Trina, but the girl played him along, never committing, and stalling when Bram would ask her for her hand. Bram, in frustration, blamed her friend, the boy Jack of the woods. He went to Trina's father Otho and together, the two hatched a plan to drive Jack and his pack of runaways out of Kinderhook for good. Thus it came to pass, that one chilly fall evening, after Jack and his fellows had returned to their camp for the night. They were set upon by the lumberjack and a handful of townsfolk. The camp was lit only by Jack's carved lanterns, and the shadows jumped tall as the group rushed in. First, they smashed Jack's carven gourds, then they turned to the runaways that had not yet fled. Jack rose to defend his friends as they scattered into the night and found himself embroiled in combat with none other than the his rival Bram. Bram's attack was savage, and soon Jack found himself backed against a tree and fighting for his life. Looming behind Bram was Trina's father the lumberman, his wicked axe in his hands. As the cries of his friends rose into the night around them, Jack's hand came to rest upon a carven pumpkin lantern, stubs of candles flickering within. Grimacing with effort, Jack threw the pumpkin at his assailant, where it exploded across Bram's face. Then, as Jack scrambled to turn and escape, Othos' axe found its mark, and poor Jack's head was split from his body to fall into the woods beyond. For a year afterward, there was peace in Kinderhook. Jack's gang of runaways either left or found homes. Trina pined for her lost Jack. Bram, his face scarred by hot wax, rejoined his efforts to woo her, but Trina never let him succeed. Her father became more insistent that she choose the lawyer, and Trina took to hiding out in the woods, especially at the old camp where Jack and his runaways had lived. Desperate to control his daughter, old Otho locked her in her room, and there she stayed. Until, as midnight rose on Hallowmass, a headless figure strode into the streets of Kinderhook. The thing held a pumpkin high, and as the swollen gourd swiveled to and fro, the terrified citizens of Kinderhook saw it to be carved with a leering face. Sickly light spilled from the carven orifices. An eerie voice drifted from the strange lantern, calling to the children of Kinderhook. Many came to join the ghostly marshal, and still the voice called to the children to come and join the rest. When the pumpkin's pale gaze fell upon them, children became entranced, dancing into the streets. Their parents, however, in the light of that baleful stare became targets. Those that had been pulled into the street attempting to restrain their kin scrambled for cover as Headless Jack hurled his flaming lantern toward them. When it struck them, or the cobblestones nearby, it exploded into a conflagration of wax and fire, only to reappear in the ghastly spirit's hand moments later to be thrown again. When Trina heard the voice from her window she heard only her lost Jack, and she leapt to the street below to join him at the head of the ragged crowd. Bram and Otho chased her into the street, but Trina had the lead, and as she reached the headless figure the grim pumpkin turned about in the spirit's hand to regard them. The entranced children swarmed over the two men. Otho and Bram fell beneath the children's feet and were absorbed by the crowd, never to be seen again. The line then paraded, cavorting, through the town to disappear into the woods at Jack's old camp. In the morning only a very few returned, ragged, hollow-eyed and worn. Trina was not among them. Where the mad parade had passed in the night, the villagers found wreckage, windows smashed, carts torched, and everywhere were shards of smashed pumpkin. Only those that had hidden behind locked doors and did not harass the ghostly revel were spared. Thus the legend of Lantern Jack was born, and his spirit continues to return year after year. To this day, the people of Kinderhook put out offerings of sweets on cold autumn nights, and they remember to lock their doors in case Lantern Jack should come calling. Category:Weapons